Greene v. State of R.I.

• Decision Date: 11 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-2670.,03-2670.
• Citation: 398 F.3d 45
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
• Parties: Wilfred W. GREENE, a/k/a "Chief Eagle Heart", et al., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. The STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

398 F.3d 45

Wilfred W. GREENE, a/k/a "Chief Eagle Heart", et al., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. The STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 03-2670.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard September 17, 2004.

Decided February 11, 2005.

Lesley S. Rich, with whom Earl F. Pasbach, were on brief, for appellants.

Neil F.X. Kelly, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Patrick C. Lynch, Attorney General, Claire Richards, Special Counsel, Joseph Carroll, Woonsocket City Hall, Thomas Hefner and Fogarty & Hefner, were on brief, for appellees.

Katherine J. Barton, Appellate Section, Environment & Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, with whom Elizabeth A. Peterson, Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General, and Suzanne Schaeffer, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, were on brief, for the United States.

Before TORRUELLA and HOWARD, Circuit Judges, and DiCLERICO, JR.,^* District Judge.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

With this appeal, the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and its Chief, Wilfred W. Greene, continue their efforts to recover a portion of their ancestral lands which they claim were wrongfully taken from them by European colonists in the 17th century. Plaintiffs-appellants Wilfred W. Greene, "Chief Eagle Heart," and the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe, Wampanoag Nation ("the Tribe" or "the Wampanoags") brought suit against defendants-appellees, the State of Rhode Island ("the State"), the Town of Cumberland, and the City of Woonsocket ("the Municipalities"), seeking a declaration that they are the lawful and equitable owners of approximately thirty-four square miles of land in Rhode Island, which they claimed was wrongfully taken from the Tribe's ancestors. The State and Municipalities moved to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), contending that the Tribe's claims were barred by the Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act ("the Settlement Act"), 25 U.S.C. §§ 1701-1716. The district court granted the motion to dismiss, and the Tribe now appeals. We affirm the decision of the district court.

I. Background

A. Settlement Act

In 1978, Congress enacted the Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act in order to implement the Joint Memorandum of Understanding ("the JMOU"), H.R.Rep. No. 95-1453, at 25-28 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N.1948, 1962-66, that resolved two lawsuits initiated by the Narragansett Indian Tribe ("the Narragansetts") against the State of Rhode Island and landowners in Charlestown, Rhode Island where the Narragansetts claimed aboriginal title to approximately 3200 acres of land. H.R.Rep. No. 95-1453, at 5; see also Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. S.R.I. Land Dev. Corp., 418 F.Supp. 798 (D.R.I.1976); Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. Murphy, 426 F.Supp. 132 (D.R.I.1976). Under the terms of the JMOU and Settlement Act, the State donated approximately 900 acres of land to the Narragansetts, and the federal government committed to provide $3.5 million to the Narragansetts for the acquisition of an additional nine hundred acres. In exchange, the State sought to dispel all clouds on land title in Rhode Island caused by Indian claims. In the Settlement Act, Congress thus ratified any prior transfer of land or natural resources located anywhere in the State of Rhode Island by the Narragansetts or any other Indian, Indian tribe, or Indian nation. 25 U.S.C. §§ 1705(a)(1), 1712(a)(1). The Settlement Act also extinguished any aboriginal title to land involved in such transfers. Id. §§ 1705(a)(2), 1712(a)(2). The Act limited challenges to the Settlement by providing that "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law, any action to contest the constitutionality of this subchapter shall be barred unless the complaint is filed within one hundred eighty days of September 30, 1978." Id. § 1711.

B. Factual Background

Since the Wampanoags are appealing the district court's dismissal of their case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the facts alleged in the Tribe's complaint must be taken as true. Cruz v. Melecio, 204 F.3d 14, 21 (1st Cir.2000). These facts are as follows:

Plaintiffs-appellants the Wampanoag Nation are an Indian tribe recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and active in Rhode Island. The Wampanoags are not, however, a federally recognized Indian tribe.

According to the plaintiffs' complaint, in June 1643, the General Court of the New Plymouth Colony created a formal procedure for the purchase of Indian lands in order to prevent confusion and controversy over land titles. In 1661, Chief Wamsutta of the Wampanoags deeded land to Captain Thomas Willett, a colonist who was authorized by the General Court of New Plymouth to purchase land from the Indians. This transaction is generally known as the "North Purchase" and the deed included what is now Attleboro and North Attleboro, Massachusetts; Cumberland, Rhode Island; and part of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. This deed reserved "a competent portion of the land for some of the Natives at Mishanegitatonett¹ for to plant and sojourn upon." The Wampanoags contend that this deed thereby afforded the Tribe a "coexisting right" with the colonists to use the land.

On July 15, 1663, King Charles II granted the Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ("the Charter"), which the Wampanoags claim annulled all prior claims to Indian lands by right of discovery or conquest. The Charter recognized the responsibility of the government to oversee the conveyance of lands from the Indians. In contrast to other colonies' charters, the Rhode Island Charter provided that the Indians had title to Indian lands and that any conveyance from the Indians must be confirmed and established by royal consent.²

The land that was deeded to Captain Willet in 1661 includes the land at issue here. The Wampanoags describe the subject land as thirty-four square miles in northeastern Rhode Island comprised of land from the Pawtucket River along the expanse running from Pawtucket up to Woonsocket, and moving east to what is now the border between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. This land comprises significant portions of what are now Cumberland and Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

C. The Current Dispute

The Wampanoags contend that they are entitled to occupy and use the land as it was reserved in the deed to Captain Willet in 1661, because following that transfer, the Tribe never made any treaties, deeds, or other written agreements that would have legitimately transferred their rights in the land. In the district court, the Wampanoags sought a declaration that they are the lawful and equitable owners of the land in question or, in the alternative, the award of specified money damages. The State defended by moving to dismiss the case on the ground that the Wampanoags' claims are barred by the Settlement Act. In response, the Wampanoags argued that their claims do not fall within the scope of the Settlement Act and, if they did, that the Settlement Act was unconstitutional as applied to their claims. The district court rejected the Wampanoags' arguments and dismissed the case for failure to state a claim.

II. Analysis

On appeal, the Wampanoags argue that (1) the district court erred in considering the Settlement Act as an affirmative defense in a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss; (2) the Settlement Act does not apply to the Wampanoags' claims because their claims are based on deeded title and therefore are not claims raised by Indians qua Indians; (3) the Settlement Act does not apply to the Wampanoags' land claims because the Wampanoags never "transferred" their deeded interest in land; and (4) the Settlement Act is unconstitutional.

We review a district court's grant of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) de novo. Calderon-Ortiz v. LaBoy-Alvarado, 300 F.3d 60, 62-63 (1st Cir.2002). A complaint should not be dismissed unless it is apparent beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). We accept as true the well-pleaded facts in the Wampanoags' complaint and indulge all reasonable inferences in the their favor. Calderon-Ortiz, 300 F.3d at 62-63.

A. Conversion of motion to dismiss to summary judgment

The Wampanoag Tribe claims that the district court erred in considering the State's affirmative defense — that the Settlement Act bars the Tribe's land claims — without converting the motion to dismiss into one for summary judgment. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) provides that a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted shall be converted into a Rule 56 motion for summary judgment whenever matters outside the pleading are presented to and relied on by the district court. The Tribe's complaint did not mention the Settlement Act, and the State first presented the Settlement Act to the district court in a brief supporting the State's motion to dismiss. The Wampanoags therefore assign error, claiming that the court's failure to convert the motion into one for summary judgment prevented them from introducing evidence intended to negate the affirmative defense. We find this challenge without merit for the following reasons.

In general, courts have interpreted the Rule 12(b) conversion provision to mean that courts may consider "not only the complaint but also matters fairly incorporated within it and matters susceptible to judicial notice" without converting the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. In re Colonial Mortgage Bankers Corp., 324 F.3d 12, 15 (1st Cir.2003). Indeed, we have specifically noted that "a court may look to matters of public record in deciding a Rule (12)(b)(6) motion without converting the motion into one for summary judgment." Boateng v. InterAmerican Univ., Inc., 210 F.3d 56, 60 (1st Cir.2000); see also Watterson v. Page,...